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TLPdb: A Resource for Thaumatin-Like Proteins

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Abstract

Antifungal proteins and peptides have drawn the attention of numerous plant biologists and Clinicians, owing to their potential value in protecting commercial crops as well as preventing fungal infections in humans. Various proteins and peptides, such as glucanases, chitinases, chitinase-like proteins, lectins, peroxidases, defensins, and lipid transfer proteins have antifungal activities. Thaumatin is a protein from a West African plant Thaumatococcus danielli that is sweet in taste but does not exhibit antifungal activities. Despite the structural similarities between thaumatins and thaumatin-like proteins (TLPs), TLPs are not sweet in taste, unlike thaumatins. We developed a thaumatin-like protein database of various organisms. TLPs are pathogenesis-related proteins (PR) with molecular masses of 20–26 kDa. The amino acid residues of TLPs involved in an antifungal activity remain obscure and make it hard to receive comprehensive information on TLPs. The biggest problem in the wine industry is white haze, an undesirable feature of high-quality wine. Hence, the problem may be figured out with the easy accessibility of amino acid sequences and to generate infest resistant crops. Overall, we aimed to produce a freely accessible TLP database (https://tlpdb.cftri.com) that would provide substantive information in understanding the mechanistic facet of TLPs. Briefly, TLPdb contains sequences, structures, and amino acid compositions of validated, published TLP protein sequences (from the plant, fungal as well as animal sources). Thus, this work may yield valuable information that may be useful in understanding the mechanistic aspects of TLP activity and in the evolution of antifungal proteins and fungal resistant crops. TLPdb is a comprehensive thaumatin-like protein resource database of various organisms. The database can serve as a unique Bioinformatics tool for understanding the TLPs. This further may help in understanding and the development of fungal resistant crops. TLPdb is freely available at https://tlpdb.cftri.com.

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Data Availability

TLPdb is freely available and accessible on the web at https://tlpdb.cftri.com. Users need to install Java plug-in as well as JavaScript in their internet browser settings to view the structures. In summation, the freely available visualizing tools such as chimera need to be downloaded to inspect the 3D structure of the proteins in the database.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the Head Computer center and the center’s staff, as without their service, the database collection would not have stimulated to this stage. Great thanks and appreciations to the Director CSIR-CFTRI. And, also thanks to Dr Manilal, for their support.

Funding

CSIR-CFTRI acknowledged for funding the PhD work of CTG, and funds for the TLP project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Protein Chemistry and Technology, CFTRI, Mysore, India

    Chandana Thimme Gowda & Rajagopal Kammara

  2. Computer Center Facility, CSIR-CFTRI, Mysore, India

    Siva Naga Suresh Purama

  3. Department of Protein Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of AcSIR, New Delhi, India

    Rajagopal Kammara

Authors
  1. Chandana Thimme Gowda
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  2. Siva Naga Suresh Purama
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  3. Rajagopal Kammara
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Contributions

Conceptualized, designed, analyzed and wrote the manuscript: RK. RK, CTG compiled the TLP sequences from different sources, and database software: SNSP.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rajagopal Kammara.

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10930_2020_9909_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Electronic supplementary material 1 (DOC 112 kb)—Supporting information: Figure depicts the steps followed during construction of the TLPdb

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Thimme Gowda, C., Purama, S.N.S. & Kammara, R. TLPdb: A Resource for Thaumatin-Like Proteins. Protein J 39, 301–307 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10930-020-09909-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10930-020-09909-w

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